MID CHESHIRE'S three major towns should benefit from plans to regenerate a 25-mile swathe of the county.

A conference last week set the wheels of the Weaver Valley Regional Park project in motion - with Northwich, Winsford and Middlewich set to reap the rewards.

Project manager Shea O'Neill said: 'The meeting was all about getting businesses involved in what we are doing. Cheshire County Council, the North West Development Agency and the Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance are all behind the project, so the meeting was about finding business partners, consulting people and plotting our next step.'

Although the Weaver Valley Regional Park may take 10-20 years to complete and cost millions of pounds, the meeting marked the public launch of an initiative which has been discussed since 1999.

Stretching from Nantwich and Sandbach in the south to Frodsham in the north, the park aims to use Middlewich, Winsford and Northwich's salt and waterways heritage to drive the area's economy.

Ms O'Neill said: 'We want to extend and link the waterways, so the entire region can be travelled on rivers and canals, build on Middlewich's strong festivals, and use the Northwich and Middlewich Vision models to develop the area.'

Middlewich and Winsford may also be linked thanks to the Incline Plain project.

'It will be a solid link between Middle-wich's canals and the Weaver in Winsford,' said Ms O'Shea. 'It will enable tourists and visitors to travel easily by boat and should also ease congestion at Middlewich's locks.

'Our plan will include tourism, travel and leisure and will also be about regenerating brownfield sites for public use. We will begin with rights of way for walkers and cyclists, including a cycle hire service where people can hire and return bikes to locations across the park, then we will look at other attractions such as canoeing, fishing and public transport.'